Media Player Ratings- How did West Ham’s players fare against Cardiff?

West Ham claimed back to back Premier League wins for the first time in nearly two years as they beat Cardiff City 3-1 at the London Stadium. It was the Hammers’ seventh straight win over the Bluebirds in all competitions and was secured thanks to a brace from substitute Lucas Perez, who became the first West Ham player to do so off the bench since Paulo Wanchope against Newcastle back in April 2000.

Manuel Pellegrini had to reshuffle his backline for this clash- with Aaron Cresswell and Fabian Balbuena both injured, in came Arthur Masuaku and Angelo Ogbonna respectively. Veteran Pablo Zabaleta was rested- we had indicated that Michail Antonio was a possible candidate to replace him, and Pellegrini chose to go with him rather than play someone from midfield out of position. Jack Wilshere was not in the match day squad after having pain in his other ankle (not the troubled one), which meant the home fans got to see Andy Carroll and Grady Diangana in action after the interval.

It didn’t go all West Ham’s way- things could’ve ended very differently had Lukasz Fabianski not saved Joe Ralls’ penalty effort in the first half. It was a silly penalty to give away by Marko Arnautovic, who limped off shortly afterwards with a suspected hamstring injury.

Robert Snodgrass was key to two of West Ham’s three goals- he set up Perez’s first with a deft chip, and it was his corner that was nodded in by Antonio on the hour mark. Cardiff have come from behind to win thrice this season, but all those victories were at home, and their form on the road has been poor, to put it mildly. West Ham’s blitz in the first quarter of the second half ended any hopes the visitors may have entertained of taking points from the London Stadium.

Some of Felipe Anderson’s passing was absolutely sublime- Cardiff struggled to live with the Brazilian at times.

Sky gave everyone in the starting lineup a 7 bar Snodgrass (8). They also gave a 6 to everyone in the Cardiff starting XI bar goalkeeper Etheridge (5)